Colombo (LNW): Six individuals, including former Health Ministry Secretary Janaka Sri Chandragupta, were presented before the Maligakanda Magistrate today (27) concerning the import of substandard Human Immunoglobulin.
Also among those brought before the court were Dr. Kapila Wickramanayaka, Director of the Health Ministry’s Medical Supplies Division (MSD), and the proprietor of the pharmaceutical company involved in the transaction.
In a related development, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) reported that Former Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella provided a statement for a duration of seven-and-a-half hours regarding the matter yesterday (26).
The statement was recorded at the Minister’s residence, commencing at 9:00 am and concluding at 4:15 pm.
Colombo (LNW): The Ministry of Sports has officially announced the temporary suspension of registration for five National Associations/Federations of Sports through a Gazette notification.
The gazette was issued by Sports Minister Harin Fernando dated December 22, 2023. Below are the affected entities:
Colombo (LNW): Pastor Jerome Fernando, who has recently been at the centre of controversy based on one of his speeches in front of a congregation, was further remanded till January 03, 2024.
This was when the self-crowned prophet was produced before the Colombo Magistrate Court today (27).
Arrested in December by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) after a two-day statement provision, Fernando faces charges related to allegedly making derogatory statements about Lord Buddha, Islam, and Hinduism in front of a congregation in May of the same year.
Video footage of these remarks stirred controversy among Buddhism followers in Sri Lanka, leading to his arrest and subsequent apologies for the contentious statements.
Wanted by the Police, Pastor Fernando’s legal proceedings continue after his return to Sri Lanka, marking the end of nearly six months overseas since the incident.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) indicates appreciation against the US Dollar today (27) in comparison to December 22, as per the official exchange rates released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
Accordingly, the buying price of the US Dollar has dropped to Rs. 320.53 from Rs. 321.46, and the selling price to Rs. 330.38 from Rs. 331.30.
The Sri Lankan Rupee, meanwhile, indicates fluctuation against several other foreign currencies.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka has received the largest volume of remittances from countries which face long-lasting labour shortages, followed by those with a 2.0 percent inflation target, official data shows.
Workers’ remittances have increased notably to US$ 482.4 million in September 2023 in comparison to USD 359.3 million in September 2022, according to the quarterly bulletin of Worker Remittances and Labour Migration, Issued by the Economic Research Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
“Total workers’ remittances in 2023 up to September amounted to US$ 4,345.1 million and the highest amount of remittances was received from Kuwait followed by UAE and Qatar in the third quarter of 2023”, it noted.
Meanwhile, $100.4 million received through other countries and USD 287.2 mn received through some of the Global remittance channels, Apps and other channels are not included in country-wise workers’ remittances.
Remittances from the United States and the United Kingdom mainly include remittances diverted from other source countries through the United States and the United Kingdom, which is a part of the mechanism of cross border forex transactions arrangements.
Th$ 507 million during the third quarter of 2023, compared to a monthly average of $470 million in the second quarter of 2023.”
“Total departures for foreign employment amounted to 224,133 up to September of 2023 recording a monthly average of 24,904. Total monthly departures were high throughout the first three quarters of 2023.
Although departures for foreign employment are higher, passport issuances showed some decline compared to 2022 in the third quarter of 2023.”
“Migrant workers as a percentage of total departures of Sri Lankans were relative ely low in the first nine months of 2023, compared to corresponding period of 2022. Female departures for foreign employment are highly concentrated on semi-skilled category, while male departures are concentrated on skilled category.
Nearly 59% of departures for foreign employment is concentrated in the semi-skilled and low-skilled categories,” it stated.
Sri Lanka has received 157.7 million US dollars from Kuwait in the third quarter, followed by UAE with 146.9 million US dollars, Qatar 137.5 million US dollars and Saudi Arabia 134.3 million US dollars, according to central bank data.
Without a true policy rate, and somewhat limited standing facilities, the countries have very low interest rates and lower levels of banking crises even when the anchor currency nation, the US, has banking collapses from activist monetary policy.
After Saudi Arabia, the US was the next highest source of remittances at 132.4 million US dollars.
The United Kingdom came next with 102.6 million US dollars, followed by South Korea and Italy. All three countries have 2.0 percent inflation targets, limiting the room for central banks to print money.
Maldives came next with 32.5 million US dollars.The Maldives also has a pegged regime, with less credibility than Saudi Arabia or the UAE, triggering forex shortages from time to time.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka government is to seek international support to bust a huge trans-border drug racket being carried out by Lankan cooperatives overseas.
Officials said that the syndicate was based out of Sri Lanka, however, the mastermind’s appendage was spread across Middle East, France the Maldives and Australia.
Sri Lanka has initiated a special operation to arrest and repatriate 30 criminals engaged in drug trafficking and underworld activities from overseas, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said.
He said the government has received intelligence reports on 29 underworld members operating in Dubai and one in France.
Minister Alles announced these measures during an event in Kirindiwela, confirming ongoing discussions with concerned countries for their extradition to Sri Lanka.
In response to queries about the islandwide ‘Yukthiya’ operation, Minister Alles clarified that there is no decision to halt the operation.He assured that the operation will be continued.
“Objections to ‘Yukthiya’ come from those hindering its progress. We aim to completely halt underworld and drug trafficking in the country within the next six months,” he said.
Commenting on actions against underworld members in Dubai and France, Minister Alles highlighted the complexity of legal procedures in these countries.
“Negotiations are underway with relevant nations, and we have obtained Interpol red notices for their arrest. Despite legal challenges, we are committed to bringing them to Sri Lanka,” he said.
When questioned on guaranteeing the complete eradication of the underworld and drug trafficking in six months, Minister Alles acknowledged the difficulty but emphasized taking maximum measures against these issues.
“While complete eradication may be challenging globally, we are dedicated to robust action against the underworld and drug trade,” he said.
In a major operation against drug trafficking, the Sri Lanka Police Special Task Force (STF) m apprehended two suspects in Mannar and seized a significant quantity of illegal drug pills smuggled from India. The estimated value of the confiscated pills exceeds Rs. 2.1 million.
The STF stated that the bust yielded approximately 18,000 drug pills.This operation forms part of the ongoing “Yukthiya” initiative, a police-led crackdown on the underworld and drugs.
Furthermore, in a separate but related development, authorities seized vehicles worth over Rs. 67 mn belonging to individuals suspected of being involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
The vehicles were targeted as part of the ongoing “Yukthiya” operations.Police spokesperson SSP Nihal Talduwa affirmed that the crackdown will continue until December 23rd.
The Bureau of Rehabilitation has confirmed adequate capacity to accommodate individuals referred for rehabilitation under the “Yukthiya” program.
Its Commissioner, Major General Darshan Hettiarachi, assured that necessary facilities and resources are available to support the rehabilitation process, tailored to the individual needs and mental health conditions of each patient.
Colombo (LNW): The Tea Exporters Association (TEA) yesterday expressed concern over the Government’s move to bring the commodity under the 18% Value Added Tax (VAT) from 1 January 2024 as opposed to being exempted.
“While it is understood that in order to resurrect the country’s financial stability, we have to widen the tax net and the VAT, the high VAT on a commodity of which over 90% is produced and sold purely for exports, wherein all of the VAT will need to be refunded to stay competitive in the world market, the imposition of VAT on tea has caused grave concern amongst the industry,” TEA said in a statement.
It said the tea industry value chain involves a number of stakeholders; over 400,000 tea smallholder farmers who account for over 70% of the tea production, 21 regional plantation companies, about 600 tea manufactures who are the sellers of tea as well, over 300 tea exporters/buyers and eight brokers who conduct the weekly tea auction.
TEA said, at present only tea exporters are registered for VAT and SVAT but according to the new VAT Bill that was approved by the parliament a few days ago, the 600 tea producers/factories in the tea industry should get themselves registered for VAT and SVAT to be eligible to issue of VAT invoices to the buyers of tea.
Instead of the current system where the exporters/buyers are dealing with eight brokers, in future the exporters will have to deal with about 600 tea factories that may create huge administrative challenges including additional cost.
Each weekly tea auction sells between five to six million kg of tea divided into about 10,000 lots or different types and grades of teas. Buyers are required to settle the full value of tea within seven days from date of purchase to ensure that tea farmers/growers get their payment without any delay.
On behalf of the tea manufacturers/sellers the invoices are issued by the eight brokers only making it very much convenient for both sellers and buyers in respect of administering the weekly tea selling and buying.
This transparent system has been there for over 125 years and secured the best possible prices for Ceylon Tea that enable the country to receive about $ 1.3 billion of foreign exchange from tea exports annually.
The industry stakeholders under the umbrella body of Colombo Tea Traders Association has made a submission to the Plantation Minister and to State Minister of Finance and Commissioner General of Inland Revenue last week requesting for more time for registration of tea factories for VAT and SVAT as it may be impossible to register all of them by 1 January 2024.
They have also requested to allow the brokers to be the contact point for issue of invoices for easy communication between IRD and the producers.
Colombo (LNW): Conflicting to the primary objective of introducing the ‘Govisetha’ lottery, designed to generate funds for the Farmers’ Trust Fund, the administration of the fund has failed to utilise a substantial sum of Rs 5.4 billion remitted to the fund over the past 28 years, since the lottery’s introduction, National audit office observed.
According to the financial statements submitted to the audit inspection, 10 per cent of the Govisetha lottery revenue credited by the National Lottery Board to the Consolidated Fund of the General Treasury from 1995 to the year 2022 under review was Rs.6,367.3 million rupees.
During the period of 28 years, the Farmers’ Trust Fund for Agricultural Sector had been given an amount of Rs.956 million only to carry out the subjects and functions of the Farmers’ Trust Fund.
The funds of the Trust Fund had continuously invested in Fixed Deposits and Treasury Bills without utilizing the money to implement the main objective of establishing the Farmers’ Trust Fund.
Accordingly Rs.465 million in Fixed Deposits and Rs. 90 million in Treasury Bills were invested and an interest income of Rs.73 million had been earned as of 31 December of the year 2022 under review. National audit office claimed.
Although a portion of the Govisetha lottery income was credited to the Farmers’ Trust Fund, it was not utilised for its intended purposes. Instead, the funds were consistently invested in Fixed Deposits and Treasury Bills.
NLB introduced the Govisetha lottery in 1995 on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands to generate funds for the Farmers’ Trust Fund.
The fund aims to promote agriculture and the welfare of the farmers and to provide financial assistance to the farmers whenever necessary.
In thewake of challenging economic situation in the country, the Board of Directors of the Farmers’ Trust Fund has decided not to implement new projects, leading to the non-execution of planned projects.
However, the official sources said the fund’s money, invested in fixed deposits and generating interest income, will be utilised for development and loan programmes in the future.
Despite the present situation, the officials of the Farmers’ Trust Fund assured that development and welfare programmes are scheduled to be implemented in the coming years.
The trust deed specifies that the fund’s primary source of income is 10 per cent of the sales revenue from the Govisetha lottery, subject to discussions and decisions with the National Lotteries Board.
Cabinet Paper No. 95/1317/105/081 stated that 10 per cent of the Govisetha lottery income should be remitted to the Farmers’ Trust Fund through a consolidated fund maintained by the Treasury.
Established with the goal of enhancing agricultural development and farmers’ welfare, the fund provides short-term agricultural credit facilities to smallholder farmers, organises agricultural inputs and offers support for crop and animal production processes.
Colombo (LNW): In preparation for the upcoming 2023 G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination in January 2024, a dedicated dengue control programme has been launched, President of the Health Entomologists’ Association Nijith Sumanasena said.
This programme will be executed at all examination centres nationwide until December 31, he noted.
Scheduled to take place from January 04 to 31, the examination period coincides with the gradual alleviation of showery conditions, creating a favourable environment for the breeding of dengue mosquitoes.
Additionally, to curb the risk of dengue transmission, the conduct of tuition classes focused on the A/L Examination will be strictly prohibited from midnight on Friday (Dec. 29) until the conclusion of the exam.
This encompasses the suspension of tuition classes, seminars, workshops, and related activities specifically targeting the examination candidates.
World (LNW): Daihatsu Motor has temporarily suspended all domestic production due to a safety testing scandal affecting most of its models.
The last factory affected, located in Osaka Prefecture, responsible for assembling the Copen minivehicle, ceased operations on Tuesday.
The suspension is anticipated to continue at least until the end of January, impacting over 8,000 suppliers and parent company Toyota Motor.
Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota since 2016, typically produces 4,000 cars daily in Japan, totaling approximately 870,000 units in the last fiscal year.
The decision to halt production comes in the wake of a scandal involving safety test manipulations dating back to 1989.
Following a raid by Japan’s transport ministry, a third-party investigation revealed 174 issues across 64 models, raising concerns about compliance with safety regulations.
The investigation primarily focuses on airbag control units, with discrepancies observed between crash test units and those installed in consumer vehicles.
While the former met industry standards, Toyota acknowledged that side-collision test results for Daihatsu Cast and Toyota Pixis models “may not comply with the law.”
Toyota has not reported any accidents or incidents related to the safety issues.
Daihatsu, known for its popular kei minicars, accounts for approximately 4 per cent of the Toyota group’s global vehicle sales.
The production suspension has raised concerns among Daihatsu employees, but the company has reached a compensation agreement with its labor union to partially cover employees’ wages during the hiatus.
The resumption of production remains uncertain, leaving workers anxious about the future.
